Music City Roots Radio

John McEuen's Birthday w Special Guests

       

 

 

 

 

 

Review: The Force

In my show preview I compared John McEuen to Gandalf the wizard, but given the momentous events of this weekend, it might be more apt to think of him as Obi Wan Kenobi. For John McEuen is indeed a Jedi master of the banjo and guitar. I’ve seen him captivate 2,000 people by himself on stage at the Ryman Auditorium. Last night his old friend Bernie Leadon said in the chat room that McEuen on clawhammer banjo is so compelling he can levitate an X-Wing Fighter out of a swamp. Or words to that effect. McEuen has been, no doubt, a force, and his 70th birthday blowout at Roots was magnificent and moving. We had many stars, but no wars. And a lot of love flowed for a great musician who’s made the galaxy a better place.

Jon Stickley Trio / Band Of Ruhks / Jamie Kent / Wu Fei & Abigail Washburn

   

 

 

 

Review: Angular Banjos

I love the album Aja by Steely Dan for so many reasons, but one passage that always tickled me was the line in the title track that goes: “Chinese music always sets me free/angular banjos sound good to me.” Not only is it fun to say “angular banjos,” maybe I was recognizing way back then that somehow it spoke to my musical philosophy. Give me tradition, but bend it in ways that might take a little bit of math to figure out. On a humid December night this week we gathered again at the Factory for a show that had a lot of that quality, including some real deal Chinese music and banjos.

The Roosevelts / Brooke Annibale / Bros. Landreth (archive) / Leigh Nash

    

 

 

 

 

Review: Stevie Wonder As We Wander

 

The Christmas trees were going up in the Factory as we arrived for show day this week, and the best part wasn’t the lights but the smell. The aroma of a Frazier Fir stimulates a trunk line to the brain’s center for pleasure, peace and nostalgia, at least in my case. May you have your own delightful associations and sensations in the days and nights ahead. Because one week after our annual Thanksgiving Eve show, it was clear as it could be that amid even more news of heartbreak and loss out there, light still shines and love still abides.

Amazing Rhythm Aces / Jimmy Hall & the Prisoners of Love / Kim Logan / Sam Lewis

   

 

 

 

Review: Gratitude with Attitude

Thanksgiving comes but once a year, and between the frenetic pace of Fall and our go-go culture, it’s important not to let this special holiday sneak up and fly by. While the commercial world obsesses over Christmas and the news feels like a fire hose of awful, we need more than ever to pause and recognize the grace of family, friends and the bonds made by our giving and our gratitude. I’m fortunate and grateful that my clan is again travelling in from North Carolina and West Virginia (and Goodlettsville) to gather round our table on Thursday. They will also be in the audience for this year’s T’giving Eve show, a night we cherish at Roots. It’s a tradition, yet this year we’ve shuffled things around and invited an all-new lineup to perform. Curated by our own Ms. Laurie, it’s a night of Southern soul and country rock – the musical equivalent of Monell’s corn pudding and fried chicken.

Moe Bandy / Christian Lopez / Jim Lauderdale / Tim O’Brien / N. Mississippi Allstars

    

 

Review: WayOut

A day-long, drenching rain eased up and a huge bank of intricately folded clouds pushed East just at dusk, producing the most awesome sunset I can remember in Nashville on Wednesday evening. It made for non-stop sky drama on my drive down I-65 to Franklin, and when I arrived, half our team was standing outside just hanging out in the warm evening watching the Factory water tower silhouetted against the psychedelic glow. A friend tweeted that it was a “Jerry” sunset, since he and others were gathering to see the latest iteration of the Grateful Dead downtown. I figured it was a good omen for our own polychromatic, way out lineup of talent on MCR.

Horseshoes and Hand Grenades / Infamous StringDusters / Peter Case / John Conlee

   

 

 

 

Review: Case Studies

Change is the only constant, and Fall always brings harbingers and metamorphoses. I arrived at the Factory on Wednesday to discover that the new vinyl record shop I’d heard about had opened right next door to our Roots Radio studio and venue. Welcome, LUNA Records to our very hip music and arts corridor. Then I learned that MCR was saying farewell to our longtime and loyal office manager Zack (he got a super-cool job) and added a new team member Daniel who is a media/marketing maven and a very kind and tall human. The biggest change of all though, and we’re sharing it here first, was that alas we were not on the FM airwaves. We are in the process of changing local radio partners. We’ve had to part ways with Hippie Radio due the fact that Indiana-based owners are focusing exclusively on their oldies-based format. So sad, but radio as you probably know is made of flux. We had a lot of great times with Hippie’s wonderful air staff and team. We wish them well and we wish ourselves well as we decide on a new local radio home. Meanwhile we are always and forever on the webcast and our own Roots Radio Network, including our weekly show podcast, 40 syndicated radio stations and 85 public television stations around the country. Stay tuned, as they say.

Minton Sparks / Fort Defiance / Hope Country / The Orphan Brigade / Kevin Gordon

    

 

 

 

 

 

Review: Literature 

 

Generally my early November review comes with a snarky sidebar about the CMA Awards, which shares our our Wednesday evening time slot. But this year, I’m nonplussed. I’m gobsmacked. Somewhere during our second hour, rhapsodic tweets started flooding in about the televised duet with Chris Stapleton and Justin Timberlake. So back home I FF’ed through some whatever whatever (pausing to check out and cheer for the wonderful “Girl Crush” which netted song and single of the year for Little Big Town and some awesome female writers) and I watched Mr. Memphis and bearded bearlike Mr. Nashville perform “Tennessee Whiskey” and “Drink You Away,” and yes, it was probably the best performance on a TV awards show I’ve ever seen. Commanding, expressive voices. A basically perfect performance by band and singers. And more than that, an extended arrangement took its time and let the artists have fun together and rip the roof off the place. Did you see Jerry Douglas’s priceless wide-eyed devil smile in reaction? Did you see the baffled incredulity of just about everyone else, including performers who make millions who knew right then and there they’d never pulled off anything that powerful in their careers? Oh it was delicious, and especially so since Stapleton, who’d already earned a Best New Artist trophy went on to win album and male vocalist of the year. A sea change in the trajectory of country music? We don’t know yet. But for a shining moment, authentic roots and soul left the radio-driven establishment slack jawed and confused.

Frank Solivan / Pawnshop Kings / Molly Tuttle / Mountain Faith

   

 

 

Review: Munford, and Son!

I’ve been waiting a long time to use that headline, but that’s the life of a pun hunter (or punter as we’re known by some). One must have patience and cunning. But I admit this one, which occurred to me a couple years ago, takes some unpacking. Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen is one of my favorite bands, and a big part of that is their smoking instrumental chops, and a big part of that is banjo player Mike Munford, a fountain of tasty licks and musical ideas. The other thing you need to know is from bluegrass lore. Guitar god Tony Rice was likely to holler out “Son!” at a moment when the music got particularly good or a solo had truly achieved transcendence. So Frank and company kind of adopted the expression and put it on stickers that you can put on your instrument case. I have one on my shrine of stickers, because FSDK regularly inspire me to holler “Son!” And thus was I able to mangle the name of a certain popular yet controversial English folk pop ensemble.

The Lowest Pair / Trout Steak Revival / Kentucky Headhunters / AJ Ghent

 

   

 

 

Review: Playoff Performance

It’s that time of year when our Wednesday, 7 pm shows are likely to overlap with that most sacred of rituals, Major League Baseball playoff games. And yes during this week’s show, I was monitoring the Cubs versus Pirates one-game wildcard showdown, determining who survived to play the St. Louis Cardinals and have a shot at the World Series. As the son of a Chicago-raised Cubs fan and a lover of underdogs, this was too tense to ignore. But I can walk and chew gum at the same time. It was easy to be awestruck by Jake Arietta’s pitching performance while simultaneously appreciating in full the varied sounds and personalities coming across our stage. Ours was an evening of four innings, each with its own score.

Webb Wilder & The Beatnecks / Jason & the Scorchers / Will Kimbrough / Dan Baird

   

 

 

Review: Tommy's Rock Opera

We see a wide variety of instruments come and go across our stage. In recent weeks musicians have wielded sousaphone, accordion, congas, cello, trombone and at least a dozen more. Sometimes, though, all you need are bass, drums and electric guitars. And amps. Definitely amps. And thus it was this Wednesday at a jam-packed, electrically charged special edition of MCR, where the emphasis was on love, loyalty and rock and roll. Besides John Deaderick’s keyboard, which he played so well during the third set with DADDY, this night rang, crunched, thundered, soared and flailed exclusively with wire and wattage. It was righteous in its own right and extra meaningful because it was in a great cause – raising funds for the family of wounded roots rocker and Nashville mensch Tommy Womack.